Coprophagia And Scatolia In Demented Elderly Residents
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Professionals who work with residents of nursing homes, memory care units, assisted living facilities, geriatric psychiatric centers, and other types of long term care settings experience a mixture... Read More

@ [COLOR=#003366]CherylRNBSN, quite frankly, a pathetic reason for putting your pet down. In animals, it can mean a nutritional deficiency (at least according to my vet). Also, never met that a dog that doesn't sometimes do it. ITA with the rest of your statement that it would be better to be medicated than eating or smearing feces.

The behavior seems to signal some type of distress or change in their routine. One patient who was not fed for 24 hours to evaluate whether or not they were at risk for choking subsequently developed coprophagia. It should be noted that many times we are unable to trace back the behavior to a potential root cause; in this case the daughter who cared for her at home had voiced her concern when she saw her mother attempting to mouth/eat the O2 canula the evening before the evaluation. After the evaluation the patient was released from the hospital to the care of her daughter. The behavior will either result in additional evaluations and tests or more likely added stress to the sole caregiver, unless it forces placement into assisted living due to the behavior. Does anyone else have insight into whether there are other known instances of coprophagia and / scatiolia triggered by witholding food?

The behavior will either result in additional evaluations and tests or more likely added stress to the sole caregiver, unless it forces placement into assisted living due to the behavior.

Oh, dear. I would conjecture that anyone who is engaging in coprophagia and scatolia is most likely very inappropriate for placement in assisted living. Nursing home placement seems more becoming of someone who has reached the point of eating and smearing one's own fecal matter.